Prudential no longer deemed 'too big to fail'
Federal regulators no longer consider Prudential Financial “too big to fail,” freeing the company from a set of rules that governs large banks.
A group of federal regulators on Wednesday lifted the strict government oversight imposed on Prudential, a major insurer. It was the last financial company still carrying the “systemically important” label that subjected it to special restrictions stemming from the 2008 financial crisis.
The unanimous decision by the Financial Stability Oversight Council closed the books on its actions tagging selected big financial companies as potential threats. It was the latest example in the Trump administration's push to unwind Obama-era regulatory requirements aimed at averting another financial meltdown.
Prudential is the last of the four nonbanks to shed the label. Regulators removed GE Capital, the finance arm of industrial conglomerate General Electric, from its list of “systemically important” institutions in June 2016, followed by American International Group in September 2017. Fellow insurer MetLife shook off the designation after taking the government to court, a case it won in March 2016.
The Financial Stability Oversight Council tagged Prudential in 2013 as a "systemically important" institution, one so big and interconnected that it would threaten the financial system's stability if it collapsed. The action put Prudential under special supervision by the Federal Reserve.
The council is led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and includes Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Jay Clayton, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Those officials and six of the other seven members were appointed by President Donald Trump.
The council was created and empowered by the 2010 Dodd-Frank law to cast eyes across the financial system to watch for potential threats. It also was empowered to collar some large financial companies with tighter scrutiny to avert a "too-big-to-fail" situation — when the government is forced to rescue them to head off a broader economic collapse.
Mnuchin said the decision on Prudential "follows extensive engagement with the company and a detailed analysis showing that there is not a significant risk that the company could pose a threat to financial stability."
"The council has continued to act decisively to remove any designation that is not warranted," he said in a statement.
But Better Markets, an investor advocate group, called the action "a tragic dereliction of duty for every American, because the next financial crash will happen sooner and be worse than it otherwise would have been."
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRU | PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL INC. | 129.10 | +0.38 | +0.30% |
Prudential, based in Newark, New Jersey, is the biggest life insurance company in the U.S., with operations around the world. It runs retirement and investment management businesses, with $1.4 trillion in assets under management, as well as individual life and group insurance coverage. For 2017, the company reported net income of $7.86 billion.
Prudential had argued that it doesn't pose a risk to financial stability and was unfairly targeted for burdensome and costly extra layers of oversight.
"This outcome reflects Prudential's sustainable business model, capital strength and comprehensive risk management," the company said in a statement Wednesday.
Insurance companies generally are supervised by state regulators. In addition to being put under Federal Reserve supervision, companies labeled "systemically important" could be required to boost their cash cushions against losses, limit their use of borrowed money and submit to inspections by government examiners.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.